Silent Exhaust Design

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

thanks alot nyc, i think im going to purchase a filter soon! and thats good because smell was going to be a problem for me! but also do i need the stiff ducting or can i use the flexible dryer ducting to run this system? also can i build a box big enough for the carbon filter and the fan and just have it shoot out the box?

You can use either ducting, and I use both actually. I use the stiff 6" ducting to connect my two cool tubes together since they are 6" to begin with. Then I reduce it to the flexible dryer ducting to fit the 4" fan and filter. The point of having the fan in it's own box is that it can reduce the noise. Having the fan filter and ballasts in the same box would still remove the heat and odor just as well, but without the filter in a second box the noise generated by the fan might cause more noise at the exhaust point. The first box housing the fan was not built air tight, didn't need to be, it was just build to be quiet and was stuffed with as much insulation as possible in order to reduce noise. The air is not traveling through the box, just the tubing and fan. Feeding into the second box with the filter located after the fan prevents any fan noise at the exhaust point.
Again there is contention about having the filter behind the fan in the exhaust design, but in my experience it removes smell just as well with air being pushed through as opposed to pulled.

The box in the lower right is where I house mothers and vegging clones.


This is a pic I took when I got everything set up and was getting the room organized, putting the first few plants into flower. You can see the 6" ducting connecting the cool tubes and being reduced to the 4" tubing. One of the cool things I like about the cool tubes is that their built in reflectors can be pulled right out. Then I can put these on top of the tubes on the outside in any position I want, so that I can angle the light reflection instead of hacing it all go straight down. I am losing power in the refelction process by adding the layer of glass between the light and reflector, but being able to diredct the lgiht without moving the lights themselves is pretty cool.

 

[TokeWithHope]

Lol ok well can I just have the fan n the box and have the tubing coming out of the box into just a filter that's not n a box or anything

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

Yes, the second box I used was simply to remove all ballast heat and because I wanted to keep the filter in the grow room instead of behind the vanity in the vented area. But I coud have just as easily not built a second box, and left the ballasts in the grow room itself. My tubing would have just extended fro mthe firtst box, through the wall behind the vanity, and then into the carbon scrubber.

 

[TokeWithHope]

ok and for the box am i suppose to cram as much crap in there as possible or just line the box with it?

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

I just lined the box. I took all 6 pieces of wood and super glued insulation to the surface of each before I put the box together, made it easier than trying to put insualtion in the box after it was made. I just lined the box, but since there is no air flow in the box, just through the fan and tubing, you can put as much insulation in as you want. Either way should get the job done as long as the box is built sturdy. I used screws to put together the box intead of nails just because I was worried about the fan vibrations loosening the nails and making it louder over time.

 

[TokeWithHope]

ok lol i hate building boxs but im going to look into getn the materials. i went to home depot and couldnt find any small bags of insulation just huge ones.
also do you just have the fan sitting inside the box or is it strapped down or something? cause my fan moves around

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

ok lol i hate building boxs but im going to look into getn the materials. i went to home depot and couldnt find any small bags of insulation just huge ones.
also do you just have the fan sitting inside the box or is it strapped down or something? cause my fan moves around

Good question, I realized I didn't explain this previously and you can't see it in the pictures since the front cover is already on the fan box. In making the fan box I measured the fan dimensions and built the box based off what I knew I would need for the fan PLUS the extra width needed to attach the dryer venting to each side. I took a piece of 1/2 inch thick composite board, glued the insulation to it, and then screwed a 2x4 into the middle of the board top to bottom. If you pull up the pic on the previous page that shows the fan box with dryer venting going in on the left side and coming out on the bottom of the box on the right side, i should be able to just describe it. If you were to remove this front piece of wood and could see the inside of the box you would see a 2x4 mounted vertically into the back of the box, right through the insulation, through the composite board, and into the wall. On this 2x4 I mount the fan. Since this 2x4 has the fan mounted on it it must be well secured to the wall to prevent noise and vibration of the box. I would recommend putting the first board with insulation up on the wall, then the 2x4, then the fan, and then building the rest of the box around it. Otherwise you can not secure the fan to the wall if it is already built into the sealed box.

 

[TokeWithHope]

haha thanks for your help on al this. well how did you secure the fan to the board?

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

The vortex fan I purchased came with a mounting bracket. It is just two 3" screws going through this bracket, into the 2x4, through the composite board, and into the wall. The more secure the fan is to whatever it is screwed to, the quieter it will operate.

 

[TokeWithHope]

Yeah I didn't get a bracket with mine. So I guess I will try n find one

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

surely you could get one from the manufacturer of the fan.